Paris attacks suspect absent as trial resumes

In this courtroom sketch, Salah Abdeslam, centre, sits between two police officers during his trial at the Brussels Justice Palace. Picture: Petra Urban via AP

Brussels - A trial of the surviving suspect from the 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris has resumed - without the suspect in court.

Salah Abdeslam had informed the tribunal that he did not want to come to Thursday's hearing — the first since he was initially brought before the court on Monday.

He and another man, Sofiane Ayari, face charges of attempted murder in a terrorist context for a March 15, 2016, shootout with police in the Belgian capital. Abdeslam, who at the time was Europe's most-wanted fugitive, escaped out of a window with Ayari. A third Islamic State suspect died.

The pair were captured a few days later. On March 22, 2016, Islamic State suicide bombers struck the Brussels metro and airport.